Bathed in the bright afternoon sunlight, the black granite statue of Bodhidharma (Daruma) sinking in deep meditation is placed beside the winter bamboo grove.
This image of Bodhidharma seems to represent his ascetic Zen practice to seek true enlightenment by continuing to sit in meditation alone while gazing the rock wall in a dark and narrow cave.
Bodhidharma, the founder of Chinese Zen Buddhism, is said to have been a Brahman from India. He traveled to China in the early 6th century and taught Zen in various places.
It is said that he spent nine years for performing his intense Zen meditation for entering nirvana, at Suzan Shorin-ji Temple in the outskirts of Luoyang.
In the Shaolin Temple, there is a small cave called "Daruma-Cave" behind the Hatsuzo-an hermitage on the hillside of Gonyu Peak. This cave is said to be the place where Bodhidharma kept performing the rigorous practice of Menpeki (facing the rock wall for meditation).
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